Surprising stories

Historical anecdotes that will shock and amaze you

The most unexpected stories are always the best ones. Meet some of our finest story-tellers, whose tales of the palaces and the people who lived in them are witty, gritty and sometimes downright disgusting.

Court at St James's by Rowlandson and Pugh, 1809
  1. Peter the Great
    Just what did the Tsar get up to during his visit?
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  2. A game of hide and seek
    On the Hampton Court Palace rooftops!
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  3. Incendiary bombs hit Hampton Court Palace
    One frightening night in September 1940.
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  4. The wax bust of George III
    Find out where this curious object came from.
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  5. Queen Charlotte's hatchment
    How did this amazing object end up at Kew Palace?
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  6. An American prisoner
    Who was sent to the Tower of London in 1780?
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  7. George II and the highwayman
    Who mugged George II in Kensington Gardens?
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  8. A dashing young colonel
    Who made the Hampton Court ladies swoon?
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  9. A celebrity wedding
    Who married in Hampton Court's Chapel Royal in 1950?
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